When playing with new acquisitions from a brand e.g. my new Shiseido Perfect Rouges [review/swatch] I often like to pair them with items I already own from that brand, while I get an early idea of what kinds of things will/won't work, and a better handle on the (hemi)(semi)demitones lurking within the new shade. Because at this point, a new pink or red lipstick -- even if its texture and finish are satisfactory and the shade coheres with the rest of my makeup wardrobe -- requires a lot of (hemi)(semi)demi-tonal uniqueness to retain a place in that wardrobe.
Occasionally this contraint on choice can throw up an interesting new colour-combination; more often, it turns out a jarring mess that makes me grab the cleansing oil and opt for a makeup-free day in preference, or wish I had. I still do it, because by wearing the new shinies with old reliables, the newbies' most glaring faults emerge most quickly when I'm not distracted by other new shinies being given a spin, and conversely even if the product genres are different (lip vs eye, for example) a really great new textural or tonal innovation can show up a dated quality in an old reliable... this time, if you read my Perfect Rouge review, it was the newbies which headed straight back out again.
This batch of Shiseido oldies consists of things I use frequently but haven't reviewed yet i.e. two Luminizing Satin Eye Colour singles (VI720Ghost and PK305Peony), Shimmering Cream Eye Colour BK912 Caviar, Luminizing Face Colour WT905 High Beam White [now this one I have drivelled about!], and one of my favourite neutral palettes, from Asia-exclusive sub-brand Maquillage: Alexander Wang BR365.
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Constants: Shu Uemura UV Base Cream Pink as base, Tarte Maracuja concealer in Fair under eyes, GOSH white kohl, Shu Hard 9 brow pencil Stone Grey.
This batch of Shiseido oldies consists of things I use frequently but haven't reviewed yet i.e. two Luminizing Satin Eye Colour singles (VI720Ghost and PK305Peony), Shimmering Cream Eye Colour BK912 Caviar, Luminizing Face Colour WT905 High Beam White [now this one I have drivelled about!], and one of my favourite neutral palettes, from Asia-exclusive sub-brand Maquillage: Alexander Wang BR365.
Maquillage Eyes Creator 3D Alexander Wang BR365 was a limited edition quint released autumn 2009. The two horizontal pans are dryish, silky creams [which have not changed texture since 2009] -- one a sheer ivory base with gold sparkles, the other a pigmented, complex plum/brown with sparse red, purple and cool gold shimmer. The trio of powders at the top remain the best textures Maquillage have ever released, as finely milled, pigmented and blendable as the Shiseido Luminizing powder formula (or golden-age Stila shimmers), and likewise so soft they're slightly prone to powder kick-up; the shades are on the cool side of neutral: sandy brown shimmer, mushroom taupe shimmery-satin [a shittin? ....sorry], and a light champagne frost, peachier than the ivory cream.
Swatched clockwise from bottom left, one swipe with sponge applicators:
I most often wear this palette as a palette, according to the back-of-the-box instructions: ivory cream as base, sandy brown as a wash, taupe to shade inner and outer corners, champagne to highlight centre of lid and plum/brown liner to, er, line, as in the second look here. Today I'll be going off-box :P
While none of their trios have ended up working for me, Shiseido Caviar, Ghost and Peony are three singles I could not do without. Caviar is a cream shadow which blends like water, pigmented enough to stand against any black liner yet can be sheered out to a fine, sparkly veil that's as illuminating as shadowing, even on my pasty skin. It is a slightly warm-based black, which becomes more obvious as you sheer it out (notice the edges of the swatch) scattered with fine shimmer, predominantly pale green and white gold.
Ghost is suitably impossible to photograph -- a greyed lavender satin base densely packed with shimmer in oyster pink, gold, blue and purple shimmer. Yes, I know you can't tell from this pic... or indeed from any of the others I'm abou to post....
Peony is a cool cherry-blossom pink satin, which I mostly use as a blush (adore Shiseido's blush texture, find all the shades too muddy/muted).
Preamble done, on with the looks, all built around the new Perfect Rouge lipsticks:
Sublime Day
Eye: Maquillageivory cream and sandy gold on lid and lower lashline with taupe smudged along upper lashline; Ghost in socket. Fasio Full Dynamic Volume BR300 mascara.
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| impossible to photograph ghost D: |
Lip and cheek: Shiseido Sublime. High Beam White to highlight.
2. Ballet Day
Eye: Maquillage ivory on inner half of lid eye, Shiseido Peony on outer; taupe to line bottom lashline and curved up and around onto the very outer corner. Maybelline Rocket WP black mascara.
Lip: Ballet. Cheek: Peony. High Beam White used as finishing powder.
Sublime Night
Eye: Caviar used sheerly as a smudgy base and strongly as a wing, Ghost patted on top starting from the inner corner, blended inwards. Maybelline Rocket WP black mascara.
Lip and Cheek:Sublime. Foundation: Koh Gen Do Mahfanshi Moisture 001. High Beam White to highlight.
Ballet Night
Eye: Maquillage brown/plum cream all over as a wash and pulled out into a wing and back in to meet the inner brow in a 1920s influenced shape. Peony patted over the centre of the lid and Ghost on the inner third, with Maquillage champagne to highlight inner corner.
Cheek: Ballet, used extremely lightly at the outer edge of cheekbone. Lip: Ballet. Foundation: Graftobian Porcelain mixed with moisturiser and Rouge Bunny Rouge Sea of Clouds.
Constants: Shu Uemura UV Base Cream Pink as base, Tarte Maracuja concealer in Fair under eyes, GOSH white kohl, Shu Hard 9 brow pencil Stone Grey.